SpaceX Is Charging NASA More Money To Deliver Cargo to the ISS
The SpaceX Dragon capsule arrives at the International Space Station on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. NASA/AP
Launching supplies into space is expensive.
The International Space Station has been in orbiting with astronauts living onboard for nearly 18 years. It takes a lot of supplies to take care of those astronauts, and delivering them is about to get a bit more expensive.
NASA will pay $400 million more for its second round of delivery contracts, which will span from 2020 to 2024, but the agency will be moving six fewer tons of cargo, according to a report by the agency's inspector general, Paul Martin.
One of the reasons is a 50 percent price increase coming from contractor SpaceX, which has flown the majority of commercial cargo missions to the ISS using the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule spacecraft, reported Ars Technica.
So why the increase? SpaceX has recently redesigned the Dragon Capsule to hold more cargo so that it can run longer missions. SpaceX also indicated that it had previously been undercharging NASA, the report stated.
SpaceX isn't the only one to blame, however. NASA is investing in three different contractors for the second phase of commercial resupply, instead of two. The agency has contracted with Sierra Nevada to use their Dream Chaser craft to fly missions to the ISS by 2020.
Despite the price increase, NASA seems happy to move forward.
"Cargo missions are key to the successful utilization of the ISS and continued reliance on commercial operators to provide this vital service could play a major role in NASA’s future plans as it searches for cheaper and more efficient methods to explore space," Martin wrote.